MUMBAI: Asian media and entertainment companies The Lumenere Group and BlinkAsia have inked a merger agreement to form a new entertainment and media development agency called Catlyst/TV.

The Lumenere Group and BlinkAsia have a complementary portfolio that includes international and regional projects such as Asia’s Got Talent, Supermodel Me and Tiger Twist with DJ Virman (Far East Movement). This strategic merger is aimed at combining the core skills of both companies - in connecting content with brands, platforms and talent through entertainment in more dynamic ways than traditional media advertising can.

BlinkAsia managing director and former CNN International SEA director Shamila Gopalan said, “The pace of change of the media industry has reached unprecedented levels and consumers can no longer be persuaded. Their attention must be earned by gifting them with entertainment, and Catlyst/TV is primed to help brands, agencies, creators, distributors and technology platform providers make deeper connections through branded storytelling.”

Throwing light on the shifting media and entertainment business environment, she said, “The nature of doing business today is and continues to rapidly evolve, Catlyst/TV’s unique proposition to clients’ is that we bring ‘skin to the game’ with our accountability model, creating win-win partnerships.”

The Lumenere Group executive business strategy director Kevin Ou added, “The entire broadcasting value chain is transitioning at lightning speed, alternative platforms are emerging; more than six in 10 digital consumers in Southeast Asia report watching TV content and movies via online sources such as video-on-demand, and YouTube is also increasingly acknowledged as a ‘TV channel’ or platform. This revolution is creating a rich mix of opportunities and challenges for content producers. By combining our resources, the new entity will be better positioned to meet the growing needs of our clients in an era of incredible transformation and disruption within the industry.”